• AllMyVinyl #128
• Band: AC/DC
• Album Title: Powerage
• Release Date: 5 May 1978 (UK, 25 May US)
• Date purchased: 6 Jul 2024
• Location purchased: Walmart
• Color of vinyl: black
• Number of discs: 1
• Links: [ Wikipedia | Discogs | Band Website | Complete album on Youtube ]

I’m writing this entry on 31 Mar 2025.  I generally don’t point out the dates because you can easily see them on my blog or social media where you’re reading this.  However, this time I wanted to point it out because today is the birthday of Angus McKinnon Young, born 31 Mar 1955.  He’s 70 today.  That’s why I’m doing an AC/DC album (out of order).  Felt like the right thing to do today.  I own four AC/DC albums on vinyl in total, and I’ve already done one, so I went for this one – the earliest one I have in terms of the release date, and the only one with Bon Scott on vocals.  I probably should fix that some day.

When I got into AC/DC originally, Back in Black was brand new.  I was aware they had a singer/era before that, but Brian Johnson was my guy as that’s what hooked me on AC/DC.  But as I went backwards into the catalog, I found a lot of godness.  One of the things I found was a very healthy respect for Powerage.  Powerage has two songs that I would call totally killer, and the rest are generally above average rock songs.  There’s no real stinkers on here at all, and that solid base of rock and roll is probably where its overall reputation comes from.  So in 2024, I found a sale and snapped up Powerage.  This was the first time I ever owned it on vinyl, however.  In the past it was cassette tapes and CD’s driving my consumption of this album. I also bought this digitally. In 2012 I designed a website for a couple of friends of mine who got married.  They ended up paying me in buying the (then) entire AC/DC catalog on iTunes, so I had all the albums digitally, which in 2012 was a big thing. :) At the time I got this vinyl, AC/DC was pushing their 50th anniversary versions of the albums – but other than the vinyl itself being gold and some “50” branding, those releases were the same musically.  I opted for the cheaper, standard back vinyl.  I’m guessing the fact they were pushing the anniversary versions is why the regular one was cheaper.  Doesn’t make the music sound any different.  :)

This album has a few firsts.  It was the first album with bassist Cliff Williams, who has been on every studio album from this through Power Up in 2020.  It’s also the first album to be released world wide at nearly the same time and with the same album cover.  You see overall, this is the fifth studio album by AC/DC.  Their albums prior to this are an odd mixed bag in terms of releases.  Their first ever album was released in Australia in Feb 1975 and was called “High Voltage”  Their second, released on Dec 75 (also in Australia) was called “T.N.T.”.  After that in April of 1976, there was an international version of High Voltage released, but it wasn’t just the Oz album.  Its was a mix of songs taken from both the Oz albums that were already out. Their third proper studio album came out in Sep of 1976 (in Oz) and was called “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap”.   The fourth was Let There Be Rock in Mar of 1977 (Oz). Both Let There and Dirty Deeds were released a couple of months after the Oz release internationally, except in the US because labels wouldn’t distribute it. Dirty Deeds wasn’t released in the US until Apr of 1981, which confused this 16 year old when it came out (I thought that singer had died?).  That finally brought us to Powerage, which was released on 5 May 1978 in Europe, 30 May 1978 in the US, and 19 Jun 1978 in Oz.  I wasn’t an AC/DC fan during that time, but if I was, it would have been confusing to keep track of in an era before social media and the Internet. The final entry in that was the “’74 Jailbreak” EP released in the US in Oct 1984 – it contained the remainder of the tracks from the first two Oz albums that didn’t get used elsewhere (mostly the International High Voltage album). That was a full album and a half of studio material by AC/DC with Bon Scott released here in the US *AFTER* the Back in Black album.  Was a confusing time for sure.

I’ve seen in my travels on social media the last 20 years or so that this album has a lot of love.  Every time I’d post about it, there’d be a ton of people who would offer their support or say how much they loved it.  Usually when people talk about the Bon era, it’s another album first, but this one always gets more love, which I like to see as it’s a great album.  It’s not just fans, I know Axl Rose was a big fan of this album, and when he fronted the band briefly, I know the inclusion of two songs from this album when he was doing shows.  It’s gained much love – which is odd, as when I first got into the band I never thought this album was one that got a ton of attention – the Bon era was mostly known for the earliest stuff and Highway to Hell.  The love for Powerage seems far more strong now than it did in decades gone by.

Rock & Roll Damnation – This is the only song released as a single from this album.  I always found it an odd choice, as it wasn’t the catchiest song on the album to me.  From what I’ve read this song exists solely because the label thought there was nothing on the album that could be released as a single.  I would have released Riff Raff as a single, I think it’s much catchier than this one.  That’s not to say Damnation is bad, it most certainly isn’t.  I just don’t think it’s the best choice for a single.

In thinking of what to write here, I’m leaning towards my built in expectation of the song from past memories have clouded my thoughts here.  I enjoyed this more than I recalled in the past.  I always had it as a song that I would skip, but I enjoyed it.  I stand by my earlier remark that I think something else would have been a better choice for first single.  But it had a simple riff (aren’t most AC/DC riffs simple?) that had a good solid beat that Bon could work his vocals around.  My finding it more enjoyable than I recalled bodes well for the rest of the album once I move past the songs that I really like going in (Riff Raff, Sin City).

There was a music video produced for this, but like most videos of this era, it’s basically performance footage set to the studio track.

Down Payment Blues – AC/DC doesn’t do traditional blues like the guys decades in the past would, but this song definitely echoes some of those old sensibilities.  It’s a slower paced song for them, and has a sound that makes it sound like a “charged blues song” (some term I just made up).  Kind of reminds me of something that some on the order of say John Lee Hooker might have done if they plugged in their guitars and added some power.  It is the longest song on the album at 6:04, and while I like the track, it does seem to go on a bit long, IMO.  The song’s lyrics seem to be about being poor, I guess?  It’s a good track, but not my fav on the album.

Gimme a Bullet – This song’s a bit more in your fave than Payment.  Starts off with a cool riff that’s accented by some nice work by new bassist Cliff Williams.  This song sets the right tone for me immediately.  That’s even before we get to vocals or any real guitar work by Angus here.  It’s a steady beat that runs through the song – it’s not terribly inventive, but it gets the job done.  I also think Bon’s vocals work well here with the simple guitar riffs that run through the song.  I also really love towards the end where it seems like Bon is riffing (probably isn’t, but still), and has Malcolm & Cliff singing background vocals with him.  It’s a great sound, one that builds from a slower start to a more powerful ending.

Riff Raff – This brings us to probably my favorite song on the album.  This starts out with a nicely paced riff, and then doesn’t let go.  The song’s great from start to finish.  There’s no part of this one I don’t care for.  The riff at the start is changed when we get to the main part of the song which has one of my favorites – the fast paced riff from Angus.  I’m sure Malcolm is in here too, but over the years I’ve found it hard at times to differentiate between Mal & Angus as to who plays EXACTLY what, but it doesn’t matter here.  One of my favorite parts here is that they use a guitar riff as an accent to the vocals – it’s timed to appear in-between Bon’s lyrics and is a great accent.  The guitar solo is also way faster than most AC/DC songs.  This one is a “punch you in the face” and never let up kind of song, and it works perfectly from the first note to the last.  The opening riff makes an appearance again right before the final verse of lyrics.  This also has my favorite thing – the time change scattered in a few places in the song.  10 out of 10 – no doubt.  I was glad that Axl/DC brought this song back to the setlist a few years back.

Sin City – This starts out with another awesome “fat bottom line” sound – not Angus’ guitar.  This one is a perfect flip side of the coin to Riff Raff.  It’s not nearly as fast as that song, but it’s got the same kind of sensibility to me.  It’s the slower counterpart to that one.  it’s also a “punch you in the face” song, but it does it more deceptively, not with speed.  Lyrically it’s just about partying in Las Vegas, something I’m sure Bon did a lot back then.   But I absolutely love Angus’ guitar work here – some of my favorite riffing of his on the entire album in this song.  It too also has some time changes, starting off slow, a fast part, and then in the middle going to a stretch that’s almost completely driven by the bass guitar and nothing else.  When it comes out of the “bass only” section it does it with quite a bang to usher in the last part of the song.  This is nearly as perfect to me as Riff Raff was.  It’s an amazing 1 – 2 punch here with these tracks.  In a way I’m glad they don’t open the album, cuz I’ve run into albums that have killer first couple of tracks and then the rest of the album kind of suffers.  This one gets a 9 out of 10 – it’s right there with Riff, but I like that one a little better.

And now we got to the songs I don’t recall.  I have the entire album filed in my head as a great album, but I can’t say I recall the last four songs just by title…

What’s Next to the Moon – A slower track.  I adore the time changes on this song.  The main verse riff is way different than the one in the choruses – I LOVE the difference here.   Have no bloody idea what the lyrics are about (or even what most of them actually ARE), but man do I love this song.   My favorite part is in the chorus when they sing the “It’s your love that I need / It’s your love got to have / It’s your LOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE”.  Bon’s vocals really work for me here.  A highlight.

Gone Shootin’ – This one is based off a single riff which repeats a lot through the entire song, the verses, the chorus.  It’s perhaps not the best song on the album, but I do like the combination of Angus’ guitar and Bon’s vocals here.   The song never really speeds up or slows down, it’s a pretty’ consistent thing from start to end.   It’s a middle of the road song – perhaps not the greatest, but then nothing on this album is bad at all.  Solid track.

Up to My Neck in You – This song sounds to me where you can hear the evolution of AC/DC’s sound – from what we’ve had before this to what it becomes.  This sounds like something that would have fit nicely on the Highway to Hell album.  It’s a faster paced track.  Not quite as fast as Riff Raff, but definitely an increase in pace from the last few tracks here.   A good solid track with a nice guitar solo.  A good peek into what sound was right around the corner.  Towards the end it seems faster, but it kind of snuck up on me, I didn’t notice a jump in pace or even a slower one.  Nice touch.

Kicked in the Teeth – This one starts off with JUST Bon – no instruments at all.  That’s definitely unusual and something different.  There’s a little bit of the band in the intro, but it’s mostly just Bon.  I have to imagine he was the driving force here.  Once the whole band kicks in, we get another of my favorites – the faster paced AC/DC song.  Some great guitar work from the Young brothers here.  Love the sound and the tone changes.  I’ll be honest, it’s a song I completely had forgotten about – I remembered nothing of this one when I listened today.  A highlight and one I’ll have to remember to listen to more, since I enjoyed it a hell of a lot.  It was a VERY VERY pleasant surprise to close out the album.

There’s also an AC/DC podcast with Martin Popoff that’s also named after this song.  It’s here if you want to check it out.

Today’s listen basically reconfirmed to me how great of an album this is, and that my choice of it being my favorite Bon era album was a decision that I still feel is correct.  I can’t lie, it wasn’t always that way, but these days I’ve found that my appreciation of the album is far greater now than it was in my earlier years as a fan (same feeling about Flick of the Switch, too).  This was a killer listen today and I’m super glad i picked this up on vinyl.

It really deserves to be spun more than it is.  Sometimes those albums that you really like a lot that fade into the background really should be in the higher level of rotation in one’s music collection.  The tunes on there demand it.  Powerage qualifies for sure.  Smokingly great album.